National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday came down heavily on the Jammu and Kashmir administration for allowing shooting of a TV serial inside the legislative assembly complex, calling it an “absolute shame”.

Maharani, a Hindi-language TV series starring Huma Qureshi, was shot inside the assembly complex in Jammu in June last year. The series is inspired by political turns in Bihar in the 1990s when the then chief minister Lalu Prasad, who has been mired in the infamous fodder scam, installed his wife Rabri Devi as his successor.

“The true face of 'the mother of democracy', where once elected representatives of the people from all parties, religions, backgrounds & parts of J&K legislated on matters of great importance now actors & extras use it as a set for TV dramas,” the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J-K said in a post on X.

He said it was a “shame that the BJP driven government in J&K has reduced the symbol of democracy, where they once sat and governed, to this sorry state of affairs”.

Abdullah further wrote, “They even have a fake CM coming out of an office I was privileged to occupy for 6 years. What an absolute shame!!!!” The J-K legislative assembly was dissolved by the Governor on December 20, 2018.

The Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the 25-member BJP in the former state on June 20, 2018. The assembly was kept under suspended animation till December 19, 2018 before imposing Governor's as the former state had plunged into a political crisis.

There have been no assembly elections in J-K which was bifurcated into two Union territories - J-K and Ladakh - on August 5, 2019. The Centre also annulled Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state. Ladakh is a Union Territory without assembly.

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